The Tempian Experiment: Manifest Destiny
by TheOtherLeolu
Summary: In the newborn nation of Tempus, a young shinx named Lux has long decided to dedicate his life to exploration and the expansion of his country. For this end, he enlists himself to train with the elite exploration guild, where he meets a lifelong friend and teammate. Therein lies the greatest enemy his iron will and compassionate heart will face: themselves. (Book 1)
1. Bright Future

Above all others, several fragments of a particularly stirring thought accompanied me as I drifted into consciousness: birthday, mine, tenth, et cetera. Regardless, I remained in my bed half asleep, neither moving nor making a sound. I had kept myself up the previous night in anticipation, as this particular birthday meant that I was old enough to join the exploration guild.

"Lux," called my father from through the doorframe. He was a kind, softhearted luxray who was wise beyond his thirty-five years. He was a material science researcher at the university, and he always challenged me to think deeply and creatively about everything. He always knew exactly what was best for me and enlightened me in that regard at every chance. At the moment, however, this meant that I needed to wake up. I burrowed into my straw bedding in an attempt to avoid the inevitable, but I was plucked up by the nape of my neck and dropped to the floor. "You know what's happening today. You'd best go and have a good breakfast—your mother's waiting."

Having gained the slightest bit of energy from the jostling, I trudged out of my room and into the dining area, where, indeed, a special breakfast awaited me. Baked wheat paste, fresh from the market, coated in a thick sugary molasses.

"Eat up, honey," my mother cooed. I obliged. It was much better than a normal breakfast, but there was a price to pay for it: I was soon after given a thorough bathing by my mother's tongue. I protested every lick and squirmed away once she was finished… Though I must admit I did feel better after the cleaning than before—there was just something about her care that never failed to make things better. Care wasn't by any stretch the only thing she was good at, though. As a school teacher, she would constantly ensure that I was hard at work when I was supposed to be, and she could deal quite the reprimand that my father couldn't. But ever diligent for my wellbeing, she fetched a small, coin filled pouch and hung it around my neck. "There. Twenty gold. Be back by dinner, now, okay?"

I nodded.

"Good luck, buddy," father called, wandering into the room. I smiled.

"Th-thanks," I answered as I turned towards the exit. Having fully awoken, the excitement finally began to well up inside of me as i exited the house. I sprinted westwards through my neighborhood and beyond the town border.

x

Tempa was nothing more than a small settlement in a ringed arrangement of buildings. It was situated on the northern shore of a vast bay, and the Spina Tempus mountain chain to the west stretched north from the mouth of the bay. A river flowed east from the mountains, then south, draining into the bay several kilometers to the east of town. This placed the community in a very fertile cradle of land—a perfect place to settle. It was also the only place in the world to fly the Tempian flag, so it was the capital of the infant nation. Tempus's founders were wandering seafarers who had landed on the island only four decades ago, so we lived in total isolation from any other civilizations; therefore, our town depended heavily on our own agriculture in order to sustain our growing population of nearly two thousand.

On the flip side of these affairs was the Exploration Guild. This was a small company of Tempa's strongest citizens who were commissioned by the mayor to go out to claim and settle the unexplored land in the name of Tempus. Discovery is the nature of exploration, and it was my one true love; it was what I wanted to dedicate my life to.

The guild was built atop a tall cliff in Spina Tempus about a hundred meters from the edge of town, and it had an almost intimidating number of steps to climb. That didn't stop me, though; I closed the distance within a short few minutes and began to take the steps two at a time.

As I neared the top, a furious vulpix with her head and tails held low to the ground marched deliberately down the steps and passed me by. My excitement was suddenly doused, and I couldn't help but turn around. In my opinion, anger was never a good sign of anything and deserved immediate attention. After all, if her anger originated from the guild, that could mean trouble for me later. I retraced my steps until I was in stride with her.

"Hey." The vulpix was startled from her brooding, but she quickly became flustered, seeming to entirely forget whatever she had been fuming over just seconds ago. I realized that I'd left a bit too little space between us and took a step away. "What's the matter?"

"Oh," she mumbled, looking forward to avoid eye contact. Her vexed demeanour returned, but it wasn't quite as heated as before. "You came here to join de guild, right?"

"Er… Yeah," I answered confusedly. Her words carried an unfamiliar accent, but only slightly so. Where in Tempa could such an accent come from, though?

"Come back wif a friend, den. Dey only accept teams of two." She continued down the steps. My heart fell. It fell not because I didn't have any good friends, but because a potential explorer was walking away from her dreams because of a lie. I knew for a fact, of course, that individuals were always welcome to join the guild!

"Hey, wait," I called. She stopped, but didn't turn. "I don't think that's right. Last time I was here, the guildmaster said that I was welcome to join whenever I was old enough. A-and even if the rules did change… uh… we could go and join together."

She looked to the ground and pawed at it. "Why team up wif a stranger? Do you not have any friends?"

"Nope!" I answered confidently. She lifted her head. "Well, not in particular, at least… But if you don't either, then why not come with me?"

Still facing away, she tilted her head in consideration. She then turned and, after another moment of deliberation, accepted my offer, but with an almost insulting amount of reluctance. It was justified, though, having only just met and all. She introduced herself as Veria, and I as Lux. And so, we began to ascend the final steps together.

x

The guild's lobby was just as barren as it was the last time I visited. It had unadorned, oaken walls and a floor of smooth stone, just like nearly every other building in Tempa. A shadowy set of stairs led downwards; Veria took the lead, and I followed behind. The bottom of the staircase, however, was blocked by a set of metal bars. Another room lied beyond the bars; natural light illuminated the space, and a zorua lied in the corner, surrounded by a mess of papers. He seemed to be very young—perhaps only as old as myself. Upon our arrival, he stood and strutted towards us.

"So you actually found someone to team with you, huh?" He sneered at us, and Veria growled. But something wasn't quite right. Just beneath his contemptuous front was just the contrary: the neciviopathy* was plain as day. His voice was terribly unfit to insult, halfheartedly stinging his words together. Nonetheless, I knew that it was he who drove Veria away.

"Yah, so let us in!" She and the zorua began to bicker. I noticed that as Veria grew more heated, her pronunciation of various sounds grew increasingly skewed and conflated. I finally decided to remove myself from the exchange, and I turned my attention to the lock on the wall. A dozen small, metal switches were arranged in a line on the wall: a switch lock system—a simple mechanism, but quite unbreakable… if made properly. I flicked the first switch downwards, and it produced a faint, dull click: the sound of a metal hook landing on a metal bar. I pushed the switch back up, but it made no such sound. It seemed that poor craftsmanship was working in my focus today! I grinned from ear to ear and began to test each switch and put them in the correct positions. By then, Veria had backed down from the confrontation, and the zorua turned his attention to me.

"You're never gonna guess that," he commented. "You know how many combinations there are?"

"Um… Four thousand ninety-six," I answered. He harrumphed.

"You still have to pay the fee to join, though." I scoffed at his blatant lie. "Calculate this: if the fee is… two thousand nine hundred fifty gold, then how many… _seconds_ will you have to wor-" I flipped the last switch into place and flung the gate open on him. He yelped and fell to the floor, and Veria let a surprised squeak slip. He climbed to his feet with—strangely enough—a dazed grin and dashed towards me before I could brace myself for a fight. A fight was not to come, though; he passed me by and stopped at the combination switches. He took a few seconds to observe them, then, bouncing on his front paws like an excited pup, rushed past me again.

"C'mere!" He pranced to the opposite end of the room to a set of double doors labeled _Guildmaster's Office_. Veria and I, however, didn't budge. It was only after a minute of insistent goading that I decided to follow him, but I remained suspicious of his sudden change in behavior. Veria followed close behind me. The zorua turned to the set of doors, cleared his throat, and shouted. "Guildmaster!"

"Come in," called a strong, baritone voice. He pushed open the double doors and led us through. Perched at the back of the messy office room was a large, majestic braviary with vibrant feathers and piercing eyes. Once inside, the zorua stepped to the side. "Ah, look who Osti brought in! Lux and…"

"Veria."

"Veria. I'm Ipsimus, the guildmaster here. Are you a friend of Lux's?"

Unsurprising, Veria shook her head. "No, I met him a few minutes ago."

"I see… Well, before we begin: this is Ostiarius—or Osti, if you'd rather," he said, referring to the zorua. "More likely than not, you have a bad impression of him, but please do forget about that… I've assigned him to tease everyone who shows up at the gate as a test of will—exploration is no easy job, so I have him weed out the unfit." _Knew it._ "Now, if you will, Osti, tell Veria and Lux why you let them through the gate."

Ostiarius jumped to his feet with a smile and strolled around to face us. "Okay… Veria. I was kinda disappointed when you left: you seemed pretty nice to me. But I was super impressed when you came back with Lux! Even though you did back out of it at first, you convinced a complete stranger to form a team with you! Believe it or not, amiability is a super important trait for an explorer, so way to go!"

Veria seemed a bit flattered by the speech, but had averted her eyes near the end. Osti moved on, not seeming to notice.

"Lux…" The zorua broke out in laughter and turned about to face the guildmaster. "I didn't let these two through the gate, sir: Lux cracked the lock before I could even start teasing him!"

Ipsimus raised his head with a furrowed brow. "Did he? That's… That is impressive and all, but isn't it a bit alarming to you?"

"Maybe, but… Well, yeah, a little… but it was awesome!" Ipsimus sighed.

"I'll have the lock replaced later. For now, we have a few important questions to answer… First question: are you two joining the guild as a team or separate?"

I looked to Veria. She considered her answer for a short moment, then, to my relief, nodded to me. I answered: "As a team."

"Mm… Next question: what is your team name? You can change this later, so don't worry too much about it."

Once more, I looked to Veria. She only shrugged. I was no expert at naming things, so I went with a simple, expansion-oriented name: "Laxamentum?"

Veria slipped into deep contemplation, probably trying to decipher its meaning. This made me wonder if she had somehow missed out on a proper Tempish education.

"Ah, good choice. Surprisingly, the name isn't already taken. Are we in agreement?" Veria gave up on her endeavour and nodded. "Good. Third question: will you be sleeping at the guild or at home?"

"At de guild," Veria answered. This put me in a rather tough position. Although I was planning on staying at home, I didn't want to leave my teammate alone at the guild. The only thing I could do in this situation was to convince my parents to let me stay at the guild.

"I don't know," I answered. "Do I have time to think?"

"Absolutely… Last question: are you willing to devote _all_ of your time and effort to this guild and its expansionary goals? The training is taxing and will require your full dedication. Are you up to it?"

"Yes," I said, then Veria after me.

"Then it's settled. Welcome to the guild, Team Laxamentum. Now… go enjoy the rest of today; you only get one day off every month." Veria and I took that as our queue to turn and leave. "Shut the door on your way out, please. And happy birthday, Lux."

x

"I'm headed home to talk to my parents about staying at the guild. Are you coming?" My new partner and I were just entering town from the guild, but we were yet to plan our day.

"I guess so. I don't have any money wif me, so dere's no point wandering around on my own. Where do you live?"

"I live on the outer ring… in the north neighborhood, house twice" I recited, beginning to lead the way there.

"Oh…" Ring six, the town's outermost ring, was by no means dangerous or impoverished, but it was farther from most facilities than the others, making it a cheaper place to live. It was more of a minor inconvenience than anything. "What's it like in ring six?"

"Apart from being so far from the rest of town, it's pretty fun. We live on the very edge of town, so I have as much space to wander as I want. What about you? Where do you live?"

She waited a moment before answering. "I work with one of de vendors on ring free. I love dere, too… but I guess I don't need to anymore." I simply nodded, but wondered what this meant about her parents. Did she leave them? Did they leave her? I decided not to ask. We had made it to the entrance of my neighborhood; I led the way across the paths, taking each of the turns until we reached my home. This house was less than notable, for it was the same size as almost every other house in Tempa.

"I'm home!" Veria and I passed through the empty doorframe into the kitchen.

"In here, son," my father called from the family room. We followed his voice into the bare space. Patches of straw and feathers on the floor served as seats, and a large window provided an empty, yet serene view. My father was lying next to it, enjoying the landscape. "Your mother went out early, in case you're looking for her… Oh, hello there…"

"H… Hello." Veria looked away as I dropped down next to him.

"Please, take a seat. I'm Coginus, Lux's father."

"Oh, ahm… I'm Veria."

"Hm. Nice to meet you. Now, Lux, I assume you're home early for a reason?"

"Oh, right. I came to, uh… ask if I could stay at the guild instead of here." Father sucked in through his teeth.

"That won't go over well with your mother… But… I'll try to convince her. There's no point in making you spend your nights away from everyone else." I grinned, but he put on a stoic face. "Just two more questions. Have you two formed a team together?"

"Mmhm!" I affirmed with a nod. Veria gave a short nod as well.

"I see. Then you must know each other pretty well, yes?" No answer. He gave us a look that said 'I thought so' and continued. "You see, Lux, a team is pretty much a family. A family whose members don't know or understand each other quite well falls apart immediately. You met Veria just today, right?"

"Well… yeah, but we can, uh…"

"I won't tell you what to do, Lux. You two need to decide what's best for both of you. If you both feel you're ready to work as a team, go for it. If not…" We nodded. "Good… Now, if I recall, this is your only day off for the next month, according to Ipsimus. You two best go on and enjoy the rest of today, eh?"

x

It was still late morning, but Veria and I had nothing to do. The town held nothing for us, so we decided to return to the guild. Once there, Ostiarius let us through the gate with a warm welcome. "Back so early?"

I nodded.

"Dere's not much to do in town," Veria responded.

"Right, I see. Well, I've got a bit more time than I know what to do with, so why don't I show you around the guild?" He made towards the downwards stairway without waiting for an answer, but we followed anyway. "This room down here is the supply storage and meeting room."

This room was yet again identical to the last, but this one had two doors. The left one was labeled _Storage_, and the right was labeled _Meeting_.

"If you want something from storage, you'll have to record anything you take, then pay for anything lost or consumed when you return them. Most consumables are super cheap, so just don't lose any non-consumables, and you'll be fine. Moving on." The next floor down was, of course, the same, but with one hallway and one doorway. "This is the dining area and the quartering hall. I've already labeled your team's room: it's the second one on the right… And that's all of the guild. Any questions?"

"Yes," said I, "where is everybody else?"

"Three of our members are training, and the other three are out exploring the coast of the bay, directly east."

"Dere's only six members?"

"Yes. And for safety reasons, each team that's out on a mission must have either three junior members or two senior members."

"Wait, wait," I interrupted, "Veria and I only make two. Who's gonna go with us?"

Osti smirked. "I'll be joining team Laxamentum for training and explorations until you two are promoted to senior members."

Veria raised a paw. "What are senior members?"

"Good question. You become a senior member after five years' experience or once the guildmaster promotes you," he said. "Age has no bearing on this: I've lived at the guild most of my life, so I'm a senior at eleven, now… but Ipsimus will only promote you early if you make a huge discovery or something."

"What counts as a huge discovery?" she continued.

"Um… I dunno… Oh! If you establish a township, that's definitely huge! That would probably take a while, though…" The zorua slipped into deep thought. "No townships have been founded yet, but it's not a complicated process. First, you have to establish an outpost. All that means is that you build something to mark the location; this can be a pile of rocks, a flagpole, or even a shack! Next, you show mayor Gomia where it is on the map and describe it, then she'll have it listed on the outpost boards on every block. If a hundred people move to an outpost, it becomes a township, and you get to name it."

I mulled over the information for a moment. It was a simple process, indeed. Perhaps we could make this a life goal of Laxamentum: to create a township.

Veria had one last question: "What makes exploration so hard? Why don't more people do it?"

"Ah, ah… best question yet… Let's get out of here and get some fresh air." Osti led us up all three sets of stairs and out through the guild's exit. We looked upon the entirety of Tempa from atop the cliff. "What makes exploration so challenging, you ask? Well… first of all, you can get lost. Secondly, there's dangerous geography. You could fall off of a ledge, or maybe tumble down a steep slope and hurt yourself. And finally… Barbarians. We Tempians weren't the first ones here. Out in the uncharted lands are native tribes; they speak a strange language and practice strange rituals. A lot of them are hostile, but some aren't. If you meet a barbarian… Well, you'll learn about that in training. You'll learn _all_ of the safety rules in training."

I snuck a peek at Veria to see her reaction. She was staring out over the edge with a solemn face… Or perhaps it was a pensive look—I couldn't quite tell. Whichever it was, she quickly shed it, then spoke. "I guess dat's all I have to ask. You?"

"Hm? Oh. Yeah, that's all from me."

"Cool… It's still noon. Are you sure there's nothing left to do in town? How about I take you two around to get everything you'll need for exploration? I know just the place!" Veria and I looked at each other, then to Osti, then nodded. The zorua set on the path towards town. "Let's go, then."

x

Osti led Veria and I away from the guild and back through town. We crossed through ring six. Then five, then four.

"Ring four, block six, section one," Ostiarius declared as we approached that very address. "This is the Explorers' Supply. If there's something you need that you can't find in the guild's storage, you can find it here."

This shop was quite unlike any place I had ever seen before. Most importantly, the building occupied half of an entire section—that's three full lots! Each of the four walls were lined with shelves upon shelves of goods, most of which were berries, foods, and other consumables. In the center of the shop was a small stand, where sat an elderly shiftry with dark, scuffed leaves and an unkempt, grey mane.

"Aaah, if it ain't Osti's footsteps I hear," the shiftry greeted with a gruff, friendly voice, never breaking his forward gaze. "And 'o might those be with ye? New explorers?"

"Uh-huh! This is Lux and Veria. They joined the guild just today!"

"Huh. The name's Bartis. I run this shop, in case ye ain't noticed… Now, I guess ye ain't here to chat the day away, eh?"

"Er, not entirely," Osti laughed. "We just came for a couple of packs."

"Packs, huh? Well, now, I've got some packs. I've got plenty of 'em, in fact. Come 'round 'ere 'n I'll get ye fit right up." Finally, Bartis moved. He shuffled out of the shopkeeper's stall and towards the back wall. "Two small quadrupedal packs, eh?"

"That's right," Osti answered. The shiftry located a shelf that was chock full of baggage and began to sift through it. After mere moments, two packs ended up tossed on the floor before us.

"Try these on." We crept towards the fallen merchandise. The packs were strips of tanned leather with a number of capacious pouches on either side.

"Stand over it, Lux… Good. Now stand tight!" Suddenly, he jumped over my back from the left, gripped the edge of the pack in his jaw, and pulled it onto my back as his slid off of it. He tightened a few straps with his teeth and a paw, and the everything fit snuggly by the end of the jostling. "Good?"

I only nodded, not knowing what else to say. "Good. Now you, Veria."

Having learned from my experience, she braced herself. After the same process, her pack was fastened around her as well. "Good?

"Hm… Yeah…" Having fulfilled his duty, Bartus shuffled back to his post.

"How much is this?" I asked.

"What, the packs? Those're free. They're worthless without their contents, eh? I only charge for items."

"Thanks, Bart!"

"Ne problem, Osti. Good luck, Veria, Lux."

x

We wandered about for quite a while. We passed by houses, workplaces, restaurants, a school, and countless varieties of shops: textile, grocery, supply, a library, et cetera. All of them featured the same coarse, wooden facade, for other materials were rarely used for simple construction. I was just beginning to bore of the monotony when Osti offered up an idea.

"Heheheh… wanna go to the town hall?" We had no place or reason to object, so to the town hall we went. I had originally thought that it was somewhere on ring one, which consisted of only one block since it was the central ring. This conception did no justice to the truth, however: the town hall _was _ring one! I was in awe of its sheer size; it spanned the entire block, dwarfing the Explorers' Supply fourteenfold. And it was built out of the town's newest material: fired brick. At that moment, I was unsure of how or why I had never bothered to visit before. We attempted to enter from the southwestern entrance, but it was locked. "Oh, right… It's Sunday…"

We headed off west from ring one, past ring two, three, four, five, six, and on towards the guild. In total, we had only managed to pass another two hours in town. At this point, I began to question why the day seemed to be taking so long, and I drew two conclusions: either this was Dialga's doing, or I was simply anticipating tomorrow a bit too much. I decided that it was the latter and tried to relax myself… But I did say a quick prayer just in case. The issue remained, though: what would I do for the next four hours before dinner? Osti had already shown us around the guild, told us everything we needed to know, and taken us into town to get everything we needed for exploration. What remained? Nothing, I concluded, and Veria and Osti seemed to be at the same loss. Osti, however, had his own duties to attend to and left us alone without a clue of what to do.

"What do you plan on doing?" I asked.

"No idea," she responded. "I used to work during de week, and I spent Sundays buying de next week's worf of food. What about you?"

"Well, I'd be at school during the week. On Sundays, I'd wake up early for breakfast, then I'd wander off north until noon, then turn back."l

"Huh…" Indeed, this was quite the only flaw of Tempa; the only thing to do with free time was to manage finances, buy food, and, in the case of children such as myself, explore outside of the town. "I have a question for Osti, but he's busy…"

"How about the guildmaster, then?" We were on the first floor down, same as Ipsimus's office. "He probably won't mind."

"No… I was just going to ask about safe places to wander around."

"Oh, don't worry, then! Everywhere near town is just fine. How about we go along the base of the mountains?"

"Okay, but… Let's leave dese bags in our room." I only then noticed that the item packs were still strapped snuggly around our backs; they were quite comfortable and easy to forget about. I laughed.

"Yeah. Let's do that"

x

The path we walked was a only bit more interesting than my normal route. Trees and occasional patches of bare rock dotted the way, but nothing of note came of the trip. Gloriously, only thirty minutes of daylight remained when we got back to town. Only one question remained for me to ask.

"Hey, uh… Do you wanna come have dinner at my house?" Veria laughed… I wasn't sure what to make of that, so I laughed as well.

"No, don't worry. I'll eat at de guild. Meet back dere?"

"Oh. Uh, yeah." Veria gave a curt nod and made off towards the center of town.

x

I had gotten pretty good at shrugging off my disappointment in the past few years, but I just couldn't this time. There was more conversation than normal tonight, but I participated minimally, speaking only when spoken to. Instead, I was thinking about how Veria had so easily denied my invitation and what was meant by it. My ideas quickly became too scrambled to follow, so I perished it all and tuned into the conversation.

Father asked what was bothering me; nothing, I said. He didn't believe it one bit. In an attempt to distract me from my troubles, he informed me that mother had—with great reluctance—agreed to let me stay at the guild. So I had that going for me. As soon as I finished eating, I said goodnight and headed for the guild.

The night sky was clear, letting the stars shine at their brightest. The streets were relatively quiet, save the occasional child biding their time until curfew. Outside of the town was dead silent. It was quiet enough to isolate me with my thoughts, but I simply let myself appreciate the tranquility. The guild was almost invisible in the dark, but I managed to make it. Veria waited just outside the entrance and smiled as I approached.

"There you are!" she greeted. I was immediately thrown off… Something wasn't quite right. "C'mon. The three members who were out training are back, now—come meet them!"

I followed her through the entrance, but I didn't go any farther than that. Her voice was far more upbeat than before, and… her subtle accent had vanished. "Uh… Veria?"

"Hm? Something wrong?" That was definitely it.

"Yeah. You… don't sound quite like yourself. A-as far as I've heard, at least. If you normally sound this carefree, I'm totally fine with that!" She smirked. Then, as if drying herself off after a swim, she shook. Her orange fur faded into black and red, and her eyes opened to reveal sky blue irises. It was not a vulpix, but a zorua. It was not Veria, but Osti. I laughed at myself; I knew that zoruas could disguise themselves as others like this, but that thought had never crossed my mind with Osti!

"Heh… Even though speech was a bit of a giveaway… that was pretty fast!" he commented. I laughed again and shook my head. "Anyways, follow me."

Osti led me down three flights of stairs to the bottom floor, then into the dining area. There were five pokémon lying at the table: a staravia, a litleo, a breloom, Veria, and the guildmaster. All of my previous worry suddenly vanished when Veria—the real Veria—greeted me with a smile.

The three new pokémon seemed to have a keen interest in me as I entered, and they glanced between Osti and I for a moment. Osti simply snickered and left the room. After I took my spot next to Veria, the breloom flashed a toothy grin.

"'S the _real _Lux this time, yeah?"

"Huh? Oh." I realized that Osti had probably impersonated me for a while.

"Osti had us convinced for ten minutes," commented Ipsimus.

"Yeah. You two are identical," Veria said. "He only slipped when they asked about your day."

"Yeah," said the breloom. "Oh, yeah! I'm Barmus,"

"Piso," said the litleo.

"Avena. And, uh, were the In Team right now," finished the staravia. I gave a confused look, so she explained. "The team on exploration is called the Out Team, and the team here is called the In Team."

"Oh. So no team name?"

"No," answered Barmus. "These teams aren't permanent—we switch around pretty much every outing."

I wasn't fond of this concept. I felt that it would be best to stick with a single team, but I had no reason to say so. We conversed until everyone was finished with their meal, then even a while after. We talked about the training regimen, exploration, and—most importantly—future plans.

"Ah, here's something you may want to hear, Veria, Lux," began Ipsimus. "Five years from now, right at the beginning of Spring, we'll all set off east—the entire guild. Actually, the Out Team is currently trying to figure out a practical way to cross the river.

"East?" Veria asked. "Are we…"

"Are we exploring the entire coastline?" I finished.

"Well, that depends on the nature of this land. Perhaps it extends hundreds or thousands of kilometers in every direction, or perhaps it's no more than fifty, or maybe it's somewhere in between. Chances are, we won't be able to accomplish that in one expedition." I was disappointed, but only marginally so. Exploration was exploration, and I would love it either way.

As bedtime drew near, everyone began to clean up and leave the dining area, so Veria and I retired to our room. The room had no window, but there were two piles of bedding. Veria took the one on the left, and I on the right.

"Uh… Goodnight," I said.

"Night." I laid down my head and began to think about the day. Most importantly, I began to think about my friendship with Veria. I felt that it was going pretty well—better than my many previous attempts at friendship… I was always amiable to everyone I met, but it was never reciprocated. I gave up on social endeavours months ago, though. Most of these issues didn't apply to Veria, though: we were a team! _Whatever_ it was that others didn't like about me… No, no, I couldn't make Veria put up with that! Not just because we were going to be working together anyway! _Especially_ not! Therefore, I needed to try something that I should have long ago.

"Veria? Are… Are you still awake?"

"Mm? Yah…" I steeled my nerves for the next question.

"If I… uh… If I ever… do something you don't like… or something… will you tell me?" I awaited her answer with eyes shut tight… Then I heard a quiet, staccato breath escape her—a stifled laugh.

"Ahm… Yah. If you'll do de same for me." I rejoiced! But only internally. To her, I had only one appropriate response.

"Thanks."

* * *

*Don't bother looking neciviopathy up. The word I needed didn't exist, so I created it. Here's an entry for it.

Neciviopathy (nuh-siv-ee-OP-uh-thee) (n.)

1\. The feeling associated with having to do something that one perceives as ethically or morally wrong, especially if ordered by a superior.

What do you think? I hope you've enjoyed it! If you have any comments, questions, criticisms, anything, then feel free to leave a review. Also, I spent exactly two months on this one chapter, so feel free to absolutely destroy my credibility if there's still a mistake.

See you next chapter!


	2. First of Many

Shredder8 and FieryFrog666: Thank you! Here's chapter two!

* * *

Over the first week with the guild, all of our training was dedicated to safety and technical knowledge. For example: What do you do if someone's injured? Treat the wounds and return home immediately. If you get lost? Head east to the mountains, then south until you reach town. What if you reach unmapped territory? Map it, of course! What if you meet Barbarians? Make yourself unintimidating.

Herbalism was also an integral part of the training. How do you treat poisoning or nausea? A pecha berry. A burn? Rawst berry, applied to the burn. Hypothermia? Aspear berry. Cramps, spasms, or paralysis? Cheri berry. Headache, dizziness, or confusion? Persim berry. Pain, discomfort, weakness, or minor injury? Oran berry.

Before our first exploration mission, Osti took us to the supply storage and filled our packs with enough food and first aid to survive for five days. We also picked up an almost empty map and utensils to fill it with, all entrusted to me, and set off north.

We took the same path that Veria and I had walked the week before: some trees, some bare rock, and a clear view of the mountains. Osti opted to walk behind Veria and I to observe.

After five hours of travel, perhaps ten to fifteen kilometers, we reached the river beyond which was yet to be explored. The water was clear and shallow, flowing rapidly over its rocky bed, and it stretched about ten meters across. Looking to the left, I could see the outlet of the valley that the river flowed from. Finding this to be a good time and place to take a break, I plopped to the ground.

"Stopping already?" Osti asked, sitting as well. I shook off my pack and fished out a dark, slightly misshapen apple.

"Just for a few minutes." I took a bite. Despite its exterior, it was just as sweet as any other apple, and perhaps even juicier, too. I enjoyed my snack, then tossed the core towards the edge of the river; perhaps it would grow into a tree and provide a snack to explorers who may happen upon it. Having finished our break, Osti and I stood. I noticed that Veria was still standing, staring across the river.

"Are we swimming across?" she asked as I strolled up next to her. Surveying the surroundings, I couldn't find any alternatives.

"More like wading across. It shouldn't be too much trouble," I answered. With a heavy sigh, she stepped back, crouched low to the ground, and launched herself forward at full sprint. She bounced wildly through the water, splashing it in every direction, and finally came to a stop on the opposite bank. Osti and I followed suit, but not quite so frantically. We each shook the cold water from our pelt as best we could and moved on.

As we progress from that point, the terrain grew increasingly rough and rocky. After three or so hours, the ground dropped off into a shallow canyon. This canyon, however, boasted a glaring structural uniquity: carved into its floor were deep, unnaturally winding ruts and open caverns with impassable walls; this pattern stretched the length of the canyon, which I estimated to be only several hundred meters. I pulled my map and pen from the side of my pack, took the pen by the mouthpiece and marked our approximate location on the map.

"Dis isn't natural," Veria mentioned with certainty. "It was obviously built by pokémon."

"Yeah," I agreed. I looked back towards Osti. "Should we go down there?"

He stepped towards the ledge and peered down it, apparently deep in thought.

"Tempians have rarely been past the river, so this is definitely a Barbarian structure… If we do explore it, we need to be careful."

"What if we map de layout now since we can see it from above?" Veria suggested. Osti nodded.

"Yeah," I affirmed. I flipped the map to its blank side and began to trace neat lines and sloppy circles to represent the trenches and caverns. Looking down the edge of the cliff, a particular dilemma made itself apparent. "Wew uw we gunna entuw fwum?"

"Huh?" Veria and Osti asked simultaneously. Having finished the map, I spat out the pen.

"Where are we gonna enter this place from? And how are we gonna exit?" Osti pointed towards the opposite end of the canyon.

"Look close," he said. "There's no cliff on that end of the canyon—it ends flat on the ground. We should walk around to that end and enter from there."

He was right. After a fifteen minute walk, we found that the ravine was easily accessible from the northern side. The structure had a cave like entrance, but with an open ceiling. It was wide enough for each of us to walk side by side, yet Osti remained in the back as we entered. The inside was dry, dusty, and dimly illuminated.

We came upon the first cavern, which lied close enough to where I marked it on the map. That, however, was where the similarities ended.

"Weren't dere two, uh… _hallways_ going souf from dis room?" I pulled out my map and laid it out on the ground. Indeed, there were supposed to be two pathways leading south from this cavern. Instead, there was one path leading east and one west.

"I guess I made a mistake…" I scribbled out the incorrect lines and placed two marks on the east and west side of the blob that represented this room, then placed the map bank in its place. "Okay. East or west?"

No one answered.

"West, then," I said, directing Veria and Osti to our right. This path only led west for several paces before bending south. Another room was visible at the end of this stretch, so we picked up our pace to reach it. This cavern was just as empty as the last, except for one glaring difference: a sandshrew lied in the far right corner, her eyes closed and breast rising and falling at a steady pace.

Osti stepped forth from behind us and motioned for us to back away. He crept forward, then nudged the sleeping pokémon into consciousness.

"Iz bes geraren eschleipten," she murmured in a high, young, almost inaudible voice. After a few more nudges, she lifted her head and barely cracked open her eyes. Seeing Osti, she jumped to her feet and slammed against the wall behind her, then scurried to the other end of the room. "Vor sein- Vor seined iher?"

Osti sat and assumed a casual posture, a universal display of passivity. "I don't quite understand."

Concluding that we posed no threat, the pokémon relaxed herself, but continued to breathe heavily. After eyeing each of us for a few moments, she fled down a southern path. Osti shrugged and rejoined us.

I whipped out the map and filled it accordingly. This planted a tinge of frustration in me—our new location did not exist on the original map. Furthermore, the ceiling was wide open; I definitely would have noticed and mapped this room from above. How did I miss it? Looking around the room, there were once again two exits, excluding the one we came from. One led south, which the sandshrew had taken moments ago, and the other was to the west. I marked them and stuffed it back in my pack.

"Which way do we go, Lux?" Osti's question caught me off guard. Was I suddenly the unofficial leader or something?

"Huh? Uh… South?"

"Is that a question or a statement?" I took the hint and thought more carefully about my answer. I began to think ahead: what would happen if I went west? What about south? Then it clicked.

"South," I confirmed.

"And why?" His agog told me that my answer was correct.

"Well… If that sandshrew is going to get help from other Barbarians or something… then it's better for us to face them now and leave an open escape path behind us. If we go west, they follow us and block our escape… Is that too farfetched?"

"Not at all!" he said, visibly gleeful. "That's exactly right. Now let's get going!"

He gestured for me to lead the way, then took a spot next to Veria. I led onward.

"By the way, Veria, if we see that pokémon again, would you speak to her instead?" Osti asked. "I think a… a female voice would be more appeasing… More comforting."

"Ah, sure!" she agreed.

"Cool."

At the end of this path, which was slightly longer than the last, was another room. In the center of the room, incidentally, was the sandshrew, looking indecisively among two eastern paths and a southern path.

"Hello," Veria greeted lightly. The pokémon panicked for a fraction of a second, but immediately steeled herself and turned to face us.

"Vans villes iher?" She spoke clearly, but her fear was evident. Veria sat, and queued for us to do the same.

"Vor villes iher?" Veria repeated. "What's dat mean?"

"Ahm… Sprighen zu Hauspraght?"

"I… don't know what you're saying." The sandshrew looked to the ground, then beyond the edge of the cavern wall and to the sky, dejected; dejection quickly turned to longing. Veria gently approached her. "Are you looking for a way out?"

"Ken zu din ausvi?" she mumbled, then shook her head in apparent frustration. "Iz veins… Zu nen versterghen kanne…"

"Come wif us," Veria said, gesturing towards Osti and I. With a reassuring smile and a bit of luck, Veria successfully conveyed her point across the language barrier; the sandshrew stood and looked to Veria with admiration. Veria led her to us. She still harbored caution towards Osti and I, but she shook it off. Veria hummed her satisfaction. "Good. Now, I'm not sure, but I assume she wants to get out of dis place. Should we go now?"

I nodded. "Yeah. The, uh… The map I drew beforehand doesn't match what I've been mapping from the inside at all, so let's get out of here, already."

I turned back the way we came and led on, and Veria continued to speak to the sandshrew. We exited the room and retraced our way to the entrance—perhaps to a premature end to our first adventure, but that was not to be so. One vital factor to this end was quite blatantly missing.

"Is… Is this the right room?" asked Osti.

I snatched my map out and pulled it open, then traced the path we took with my paw, landing right on the exit. I wasn't_ that_ bad at cartography, was I?

"We might have taken a wrong turn," commented Veria. I sure hoped that was the case.

Osti shook his head. "No… I'm sure this is the right room."

To my chagrin, I agreed. We had certainly made our way back correctly, but there was no exit to be found.

"Bes des dar orvet, vose den ausi zu einigetren sined?" Veria was piqued by the comment; she adopted an attentive smile. "Varn du schon einmal in einem verlits? Dar eingend vernischwardend. Dar ausgend beferdent siz an andarden unde des verlits."

Veria hummed her faux acknowledgement before putting her two cents in on the matter. "Ahm… well, since de entrance has somehow… vanished, should we explore de rest of dis place? Dere's got to be an exit _somewhere_."

Veria didn't seem quite as distressed about the predicament as we were—quite the optimist she was! In contrast, I was quite vexed: on top of the irritation of mismatching maps, it seemed that Arceus was bored enough to abandon his laissez-faire position and screw with us. Still cooling off from the frustration, I deferred the question to Osti. Osti, of course, pretended not to notice. With a brief sigh, I swept my agitation to the side for the time being and took up my tacit responsibility.

"Well…" I did a quick size-up of the rugged, sedimented walls… About three meters high with no pawholds to be found—no way we could simply climb it. Veria was right. "That's probably our only option: we explore and hope there's another exit. Let's get on with it, then!"

Veria gave a confident nod, and Osti shrugged. We decided to return to the farthest point we'd ventured to, and we continued from there.

x

We explored room after room and passage after passage in search of our salvation from this labyrinth. Occasionally, we would come across strange, dusty textiles and inexplicably fresh food items, all of which we indiscriminately stuffed into our baggage for later inspection. No exits yet, though.

After nearly an hour or so of wandering about, I had determined with fair certainty that we had almost covered the full area of the canyon. Contrary to the trend this adventure had followed thus far, I was correct! To an extent. The final room we came across, the southernmost chamber, hosted a new, unique feature; carved into the far wall was a steep and narrow, yet traversable path that instead of connecting to another room, led downwards into the ground.

"Dei treppes!" the sandshrew remarked a bit louder than her usual whisper.

"Treppes?" Veria repeated, observing the opening. "It looks like it goes underground…"

"Lux, is this the last room?" For the sixteenth time, I pulled my map and expertly flicked it open.

"Sure is!" Without bothering to mark the room, I returned the map to my side. "If there's an exit to this place, this is it!"

Osti strode up to it and, giving it a brief once-over, hummed his satisfaction. "Sounds good to me. Come on."

In unanimous agreement, we proceed. Just as it seemed from the outside, the passageway was dark and cramped, and descended at a steep slope. After several vertical meters of winds and hairpin turns, we came out the other end. Which was exactly where we began, so it seemed. It was the same impassable walls and open sky as before.

"What!" Osti ran to the center of the room, wildly surveying his surroundings, but I simply heaved a sigh of defeat. Veria simply seemed confused, but the sandshrew was rather unphased. "We're supposed to be… underground now, right?"

"Considering everything else that's wrong with this place, I'm not surprised," I commented. "Now we know something important: since there's probably not a normal exit here, we should be looking for… whatever that was we just came through."

"Hm… Yeah, you're right," he ceded.

"Now, let's find our way through this. Again." I pulled out the map and set it in the middle of the room for all to see. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no room left to begin a new map, and I had no extra paper to use. Neither did anyone else, as I was the only one to receive a map. "Hey, uh… we can fare without a map, right?"

"Yah," Veria affirmed.

"I don't see why not," said Osti.

"Good. Let's go."

x

Mapless, we rushed aimlessly through the corridors without sparing a second thought to our possible location. Eventually, we found our way down, and we repeated the process another two times. After the fourth time, the path led into a large clearing with one large exit at the opposite end. This exit led not into another room, but to the outside.

"Here we are!" I announced as we took the exit. The sandshrew began to blabber joyfully in her language.

"Daneske! Iz lepse dasse rechtrung, arbe… Kanne zu mist mier komeren?" Knowing her words wouldn't reach us, the Barbarian began to gesture eastwards with her full body and jerked her head towards us. Her message was obvious: follow. Naturally, we obliged—we headed east. Veria was quick to accompany the child, but Osti fell back to speak with me.

"Um… Lux. Have you noticed anything wrong?" said Osti, his voice harboring a hint of concern.

"Er… Not particularly."

"How long did we spend in the canyon?" he prompted.

"Probably a few hou…" looking to the sky, I found that the sun sat no closer to the horizon than it had before we entered the canyon. Though the evening should have been fast approaching, it was still mid-afternoon. "Uh… Let's add that to the list of things wrong with that place."

"Yeah," he scoffed. "This will be one heck of an adventure report to write…"

Over the next few hours, the sandshrew navigated expertly from landmark to landmark until we came upon a system of poorly built structures: a Barbarian village, of course. At this point, I began to wonder how someone with such a good sense of direction had gotten lost in such a place as that canyon. And why was she there in the first place? Was she exploring? I decided it wasn't important.

We drew closer to the perimeter of the village, inside of which a small group of its inhabitants began to gather to cautiously observe our approach. The sandshrew ran ahead to meet them, and we came to a stop with several meters between us and the villagers. After a short deliberation, most of them hurried inside their huts, leaving the sandshrew, a sandslash, and an old graveler to greet us. The sandslash, presumably the girl's mother, seemed to be concernedly questioning her daughter.

"Daneske, reiselendes. Dafre iz frogren: vor seined iher?"

"We speak Tempish," Osti quickly informed, eliciting a moment of hesitation from the graveler.

"Ah… Madagh," said he, gaining the sandslash's attention. He then gestured to the setting sun. "Ets vired zeimligh spält. Virset zu deiser reiselendes underpringren?"

"Yai, nar sezler!" she responded with haste.

"Gust. Brinsk sei im dar gästeschimmar ders langrehausers."

"Yai." She beckoned for us to follow and led us towards the center of the settlement. There stood a hut that was considerably larger than the rest; it was a disorderly reflection of the grand city hall of Tempa amongst the smaller businesses and homes that surrounded it. Contrary to the building's decrepit facade, the interior was a well lit and furnished dining hall in which a mass of Barbarians murmured in their foreign language over their meals. We caught plenty of scrupulous glances, of course. The sandshrew, who had been silently following, led us to a spot on the floor at the end of the line of dining pokémon while her mother hurried into another room. The pokémon next to me gave a welcoming nod.

"Gust aben," he said. "Iz habed genhörst, zu hats Werloren ausi den krerkern gereten!" Though he sounded perfectly amicable, I regretfully informed him of the language barrier between us. "Ah, werstaden…"

The sandslash stumbled from the room she had disappeared into with a bundle of cloth in her hands. She set the cloth neatly in front of us, revealing its edible contents, and sat next to her daughter. At the same time, I spotted the graveler hobbling his way towards the front of the hall, where he cleared his throat.

"Baghtond!" he boomed, his volume significantly surpassing his apparent age. Everyone fell silent and attentive. "Iz möghet aln danesken, dars sein Verloren ausi der krerkern gereten unt sigher nagh haus gebright habern!" His announcement was followed by a bout of cheers, but he squeezed in one more comment: "Sein nei spraghen kin Hauspraght, als bihandern sein angenessmen."

With that—with whatever he was saying—the night carried on. The food we were served wasn't dissimilar to a common Tempian meal by looks alone, but it was far different in every other aspect. For starters, the fruit was soft and warm, but not because it was rotten; it tasted even stronger and sweeter than normal. In fact, everything except the water was warm and flavorful—the entire meal was far superior to anything I had eaten before! I glanced to my teammates; Veria was having quite the same experience as I, but Osti was still inspecting and prodding his food. Understandably.

That night, we were provided with a decent place to rest. Our room was cozy and well decorated, but the beds crafted from some soft material wrapped in cloth, a rare luxury in Tempus. And it was the best bed I'd ever slept in.

x

The night passed quietly, and I awoke just before the sun rose, feeling well rested. Osti and Veria were still sound asleep in their beds, so I made my exit as silently as possible. Outside of the hut, the mist hung heavily in the air, almost smothering the bright orange hue of the horizon. I wasn't alone, though: a group of several men were gathered just outside of the hall we had dined in the night before, chattering. I kept my distance, and they seemed not to notice me. After a moment, the old graveler emerged from the hall and spoke a few words to them. As the group adjourned and the men shuffled off in their own directions, I caught the graveler's gaze. He lumbered over to me and issued what I assumed was a greeting. Knowing that he had no words to say that I would understand, he passed on along.

With nothing else to do, I ventured over to and into the dining hall. The atmosphere was far less energetic than it was last night, having no torches lit and, more importantly, no pokémon. The extravagant decor only intensified the place's gloomy air. Despite all this, a faint crackling sound emanating from a back room was enough to break the mood. In a short bout of investigation, I snuck towards the source and peeked through the curtained doorway. On the other side, I found the sandshrew's mother fiddling away with some stone contraption inside which a gentle flame burned. She removed several steaming fruits from the structure and placed them on a piece of cloth, similar to how they were carried at dinner. Perhaps she's preparing breakfast, I presumed. What was that thing with the fire inside of it, though? Is that what made the food last night so good? Burning it? As an inquisitive, young explorer, I simply had to find out. Not wanting to startle the sandslash, I casually walked up next to her, making a bit of noise.

"Hm? Ah. Gust margern." Success. I returned the greeting.

Wishing to waste no time, though, I nodded towards the Fire Holder Thing and asked "What's that?" with an exaggeratedly perplexed expression. She got the point.

"Ders? Ders bis en ofen." Understanding nothing, I held my blank stare. "Ofen," she simplified, gesturing to it.

"Oh, an _ofen_…" There was one large cavity in the _ofen_. The fire was burning at the bottom of the cavity, of course, and several fruits sat on a clay plate above it. So it wasn't being burnt, only heated; I hummed in the satisfaction of knowing how an _ofen_ works.

x

I returned to our hut to find Veria stretching and yawning herself awake, though Osti was still sound asleep. As we waited for Osti to wake up, a young, female Barbarian voice sounded just outside of our quarters. The sandshrew entered the room holding a bundle of cloth wrapping, inside which were the very same fruits and berries that I had watched the sandslash prepare. I shook Osti awake—not without some difficulty—and we unabatedly accepted our breakfast.

x

Inevitably, our time in the Barbarian village grew short, and we took our leave around noon. Our trip back to Tempa took nearly eight hours, so the sun had set upon our arrival, leaving only starlight to light our path. The guild, like a welcoming beacon, was still well lit. Inside, merry voices and laughter could be heard from the dining room two floors down. The guildmaster's was not among them, though; firelight still flickered from under the door of his chamber. Osti cleared his throat and requested entry; sure enough, Ipsimus's voice granted it. The room's interior was lined with dancing shadows. In my opinion, it held a strangely comforting ambiance. Ipsimus was crouched at the far end of the room, peering over his shoulder at us.

"Laxamentum. You're back early." He put aside whatever he was working on and faced us. "How did everything go?"

"Uh… It's a strange story," Osti began. He told Ipsimus everything. He told of everything from our encounter with the sandshrew, to the disappearance of the exit, of the groundward paths that inexplicably led to the surface again, of the abandoned items we found scattered throughout the place, of our escape, and finally of the Barbarian village.

"That's enough." Early into the explanation, Ipsimus's face fell unwaveringly scrutinous. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking, but he didn't keep us waiting. "I'm not familiar with any Barbarian village to the northeast, but I know exactly what you're describing about the canyon… I'm quite familiar with it, in fact." I would have been surprised by this, but it made perfect sense. Ipsimus was the master of an exploration guild—out of what little charted area there was, he had probably explored all of it!

"Come, take a look here." He beaconed us over to one particularly messy corner of the room. "For the past two years, this has been my work."

The mess consisted mostly of papers with plots, graphs, and incomplete equations scrawled on them. Above it all was a map hung on the wall; there was a single mark in the mountains about a kilometer north of Tempa.

"I call it the Mysterious Dungeon. Ever since I discovered it, I've been working to discover and explain each and every one of its mysteries. But it seems that the Dungeon is not a unique occurrence." The braviary pulled the map off of the wall and set it in front of me, then dropped a pen on top of it. "Mark the location of this new Mysterious Dungeon, if you will."

Although it was outside of the map's charted area, I marked my best estimate. After a brief inspection, he hung the map again. "Now, then. Since you three have discovered—and experienced—a Mysterious Dungeon, I suppose it's only right that I teach you everything I know about it. Firstly, the layout of rooms and corridors changes each time you enter the Dungeon. Secondly, you must reach the end of the Dungeon in order to escape… otherwise… N-nevermind that. Thirdly, time functions strangely. Unfortunately, I have not collected enough experimental data to determine the exact nature of time in the Dungeon. That's about the extent of what I know, but do ask me whatever you feel is necessary."

I didn't hesitate to take up on his offer: "What happens if you try to escape a Dungeon without using the exit?"

"Oh, how curious," he sighed. "I guess I'll tell… I haven't the faintest clue why, but you find yourself in… a… well, it's as if the world outside is slightly faded. In this… place… pokémon, trees, and whatnot seem to be slowly fading in and out of existence all around, but otherwise go about their business. It's absolutely chaotic. As you wander farther from the Dungeon you escaped, you become more weightless, the air is less able to satisfy your lungs, and warmth and light and sound slowly fade away more and more. Had I ventured much farther than I did, I might not have made it back."

I tried my best to imagine these sensations, but I simply couldn't process them. The air had never failed me, and my body had always rested firmly on my legs. I suddenly wanted nothing more than to see this place for myself.

"Therefore, I need each of you to promise to never try to escape a Dungeon in any way apart from taking the proper exit." Oh… "Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now, about the Barbarian village. It's inhabitants were passive and hospitable, yes?" We nodded. "I see. Barbarians are usually rather territorial, but bringing that girl home, as you mentioned, must have changed their minds… Anyhow, we're just about to eat dinner. If anyone asks about the exploration, keep the Mysterious Dungeon a secret. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

x

Our exploration was, indeed, discussed extensively over dinner, excluding the Mysterious Dungeon. The stories about finding the sandshrew and the Barbarian village was nice and all, but the food we ate there was the main topic of interest. I considered revealing that I knew how such delicious food was prepared, but I decided that it would only be a tease given the circumstances.

Dinner drew to a close as bedtime approached, and everyone retired to their rooms. I wasn't tired, though. I wanted to do anything but listen to my own thoughts, but Veria wasn't up for conversation. The stars were always there to keep me company, though, remaining ever plastered to the heavens' ceiling; our unnamed creator's power manifest; a reminder of our Commission to prosper in a conflicted world. The comfort they provided was endless.

As the story goes: centuries ago, a band of conquerors from a long forgotten empire set off to the seas in search of new lands, vowing to never return until their mission was complete. They called themselves Tempians. They indeed discovered new lands, but never managed to conquer one of them. As decades passed, life on the seas began to take its toll, and culture and history was gradually lost in return for survival. Even the name of our creator was forgotten and replaced with "The Creator," and mere vestiges of the faith persisted. And that is the full extent of Tempus's recorded history up until its establishment on this land.

In both regards, the night sky was my favorite view. It has never failed to lull me to sleep.

* * *

Well, chapter one took two months to write, and this one took three months... Let's hope I can speed it up from now on!


	3. The Good Old Days

Rickasorous101: Glad to hear it! And yes, the story of Tethered Souls is the next book, but it will be titled "The Balance of Power."

It's been quite a while now, but I hope to speed up a bit in the future. Enjoy!

* * *

The following few weeks involved training in self defense. It was nothing particularly technical; I could already produce and control my own electricity, as could Veria maintain a flame. Instead, this training was focused solely on power. Each day, we would push ourselves to the end of our stamina before retiring to the guild. By the end of the training, I felt exactly the same as I had before. Though my shock might have had just a bit more power behind it, Veria enjoyed a significant improvement. By the final day of power training, her flames extended over a body length in front of her.

Technical training began immediately after and lasted only a few days. This wouldn't be the first time that I considered my natural abilities practically, but it would certainly be the first time with combat in mind. Without any actual experience in fighting, the training didn't bring about any new, innovative techniques, but I did reinforce some of the basic ideas, such as throwing a weak shock or coating myself in electricity. The day after technical training ended, Osti took Veria and I out to the training field once more.

"Let's do some team building exercises!" he announced. "You've known each other for what… Almost a month, now? I think it's about time you both figure out how your partner fights. If you ever end up having to defend yourselves while exploring, knowing how to support each other is vital."

"Now… Lux, come stand right over here… Yeah. And Veria, right over here… Good. Now face each other… Aaaand, fight!"

"What?" I stared at Osti for a clarification of his demand, but before I was given a response, a gout of heat engulfed my face and shoulders, forcing me to recoil. It seemed that Veria hadn't hesitated to comply.

"Fight," he repeated. "And be sure to observe each other well."

I quickly gathered my focus and braced myself for the fight. Despite my earlier confusion, I had already formed a simple plan. As soon as Veria loosed her next attack, I rolled aside and, with the speed that won a hundred footraces in grade school, charged at her. But with the speed that must have won a _thousand_ footraces, Veria stepped away and snagged me by the nape. Taking advantage of the contact, I released a damaging shock. Bad idea. The current only forced Veria to clamp tighter, sending a flash of pain down my spine. I cried out and cut off my discharge, and Veria stumbled away. I tried to take a step, but a stinging sensation shot all from my leg to my neck, and I collapsed.

"Au… Ma ts- Augh! Ma sugh…" Veria blubbered. I turned my aching head towards Osti, who was looking on in a slightly horrified panic.

"U-um! I'll go- uh… Stay right here! I'll go get Ipsimus!" Osti rushed off. I turned my gaze to Veria, who was trembling from head to tails.

"You… you okay?" I forced. Veria only stared at me for a moment before answering.

"Yuh. Puhfe'ri fai," she returned sarcastically.

"Oh… Uh… S-sorry about… this… It was a pretty dumb move…" I grimaced. Even talking hurt.

"Eh, I've bih worse… I's zhus' my sugh'… Are _you_ ohay? You're bwee'ih pre'y har'"

"Hm?" I gently dabbed a paw on the back of my neck and checked it. And just as Veria said, there was a moderate coat of blood on it. I only groaned and flicked it away, and I attempted to stand. The initial pain had begun to subside, but my neck was still throbbing. "Don't… worry about me. I think it was just a nerve. But what about your tongue? How bad does it hurt?"

"A 'ot. Bu' o'y whe' I 'oush i'. I awrea'y have a heavy a'cent, zough, so 'o bih 'eaw," she jested. For just a second, all the pain disappeared. Only then did I become aware of a development that had been in motion ever since I met her. Throughout the past month, Veria had gradually grown more and more sociable. Though she still seldom expressed her opinions and feelings, she always had a witty remark on the tip of her tongue recently. I couldn't help but grin. I was going to respond, but a gust of wind signaled Ipsimus's arrival with Osti. He shifted his gaze between us almost bemusedly.

"That's a pretty nasty wound you've got there, Lux. What exactly happened?"

"We were sparrih whe' 'uhs sharzh' a' me, so I haugh' him by 'uh 'eh', bu' he sho' me righ' i' 'uh mouf, a' i' zhus' may' me bai' 'ow' har'er…" Veria tried to explain.

"P-pardon?"

"I zapped her in the mouth… didn't mean to…"

"I see," he said, making the connection. "Osti was making it out to be a murder scene," he laughed.

"Er… I guess it seemed a lot worse at first…" Osti mumbled.

"Yes, of course… Well, let's get you both back to the guild, now, and I'll call the doctor over to have a look at you."

x

Veria and I were left to wait in our room while Ipsimus brought the doctor. I found it a bit too quiet, so I decided to test how much Veria would really talk, given the chance.

"So… you seemed pretty quick during that fight… Do you have some experience or something?" I asked. I received only an indignant stare.

"You shoose 'ow of au 'imes 'o have a reaw 'omversatio' wif me?"

"Oh, right…" And so, we waited in silence.

x

When the doctor finally arrived, he gave us a quick once-over. He diagnosed Veria with simple electrical burns and muscle tension; he gave her a cheri berry to relax her muscles and applied a rawst poultice to the burn site. He diagnosed me with a severely pinched nerve and gave me an oran berry to relieve the pain. Unfortunately, he forbade me from participating in intense training for at least two weeks as well. Immediately after the visit, I took a thorough bath and washed the drying blood from my fur.

Ipsimus granted Veria and I a few days off to heal. Leaving the guild that day, we agreed to part ways and meet in front of town hall at noon, just a few hours from then. I took the opportunity to visit my parents for the first time since enrolling at the guild. After a quick stroll through town, I finally came upon my home.

"I'm home," I called, trotting through the open doorway. Father was lying in his favorite spot by the window as always.

"Oh, welcome back!" he returned delightedly. "What's the occasion?"

"Injury," I quipped. "Sorta."

"Ah, let's see it!" I sat down in front of him and revealed the back of my neck. He studied the wound for a moment. "Lemme guess… You tried to discharge while someone had you by the nape?"

"Y-yeah! H-"

"I've done it before… Just a bit of roughhousing after school one day." I peered over my shoulder to find him wearing a reminiscent expression, a look that I rarely ever saw from him. "Believe it or not, that's what sparked my interest in material science. After it happened, I just couldn't help but wonder _why _my electricity made his muscles contract like that. From there, I guess my curiosities began to wander towards materials in general…"

I knew that a long story was fast approaching, so I quickly asked the first question that came to mind to break his train of thought: "Did you ever figure it out?"

"Hm? Ah, no. No, that's unfortunately beyond our current knowledge of physiology." He paused for a moment. "Now, where was I going with this… Ah, nevermind that."

Success!

"Your mother has been wanting to see you for a while now, so be sure to give her a big hug when you see her."

"I will…" I peered out the window to check the time. The sun was just over halfway to its peak. "You have to go to work soon, don't you?"

"Indeed. What do _you _plan on doing today since you don't have school anymore? Going up to the river?"

"No, I've got plans. No idea what they are yet, though."

"I see. Well, it's about time I go, then." He rose to leave. "Oh, also… what day are you returning to the guild?"

"Monday."

"I see… Well, be back by dinner tonight. See you later." He headed off for the university, leaving me with two hours to spare and nothing to do.

x

I was waiting in front of town hall when noon finally came, and Veria arrived shortly after. We spent the day wandering about the town and doing whatever came upon us until the sun began to set, at which point we each went home for dinner.

I arrived home a bit early, so my parents were still hard at work in the kitchen. Hearing me enter, mother dropped what she was doing to affectionately welcome me home, and per father's previous suggestion, I allowed her to do so as she pleased.

The last time I had dinner at home was far less cheerful than it was this time, for I had plenty to talk about tonight. I talked about Veria, Osti, our trip to the "dungeon of mystery," our stay at the barbarian village, our training, and finally, the reason for my visit. Though for my mother's sake, I heavily downplayed my injury, of course.

After dinner, I went straight to bed, as my neck had already begun to ache long before, and I wished to push myself no further.

The next day, I saw mother and father off to their jobs before meeting Veria again. We had long grown bored of exploring the town from yesterday, but this time I had an idea. I led Veria to the public library, which was also part of the university on the second ring. It wasn't very large at all compared to its surrounding buildings, but it contained every single book written in Tempa's forty years, and even the few books brought by the founders from before. As we entered, Veria fell silent to take in her surroundings.

"Have you never been here?" I guessed.

"No… I didn't even know about it." I wasn't surprised; the library was rarely used by anyone except members of the university. As such, most of the books were on research conducted by the university that went well over my head. Luckily, there were plenty of books within my comprehension: histories. From the shelves of histories, I pulled down a rather worn book with a dark, scuffed cover and spread it in front of Veria.

"This is my favorite, _Imperium ad Maris_. Be careful with it, it's pretty old." Veria took a long stare at the book before passing me a confused look.

"You can _read_?"

Indeed, out of the few dozen children in Tempa who were my age, only ten or so were able to attend school. In total, there were only about a hundred students.

"Yeah. I can read and write, but not very fast, yet."

"How fancy," she scoffed. For the rest of the day, I read stories aloud to her. She seemed to take an interest in history, so we spent our final day off in the same way. On the day of our return, Veria and I met early in the morning and made our way back to the guild, very much ready to resume our training.

x

Over the next two years, I took several responsibilities upon myself, the first of which was teaching Veria to read. It was a slow process due to how little time there was outside of guildwork, but she made her way along rather well.

For the guild, I volunteered to participate in mission planning with Ipsimus, Osti, and another member; Veria and I made sure to accept each mission as they came. Spending nearly every day on exploration, we grew prepared for nearly everything that was to come.

* * *

Not sure how often I'll be updating anymore. Senior year has started, but I'll try my best to get more out.


End file.
